This Emotional Ad Featuring A Father And His Daughter Will Make You Cry Happy Tears

For many women, household gender roles start off as childhood games. Little girls might man the fake kitchen, do the invisible laundry, or serve dinner to a fictional husband. Kids pretend to take on roles that, when they’re grown, they may well feel pressure to actually assume. Detergent company Ariel addresses this issue in their latest commercial, titled #ShareTheLoad. In the powerful video—released this week—a young woman returns home from a busy day at work, only to have to feed and care for her child and husband, who sits watching TV. The young woman's father looks on, and in a voiceover he starts penning a letter to his daughter, apologizing.

"You used to play house, and now you manage your own house. And your office. I am so proud," the father says at the start. Then, he changes his tone. "And I am so sorry. Sorry that you have to do all this alone. Sorry that I never stopped you while you were playing house. I never told you that it's not your job alone ... but your husband's too."

The father realizes, however, that he didn't set the right example to break his daughter from stereotypical gender roles.

"But how could I say it when I never helped your mom either," he admits. "And what you saw, you learnt. Your husband must have learned the same from his dad ... Sorry on behalf of his dad. Sorry on behalf of every dad who set the wrong example."

At the end of the ad, the young woman sees the note that her dad has been reading out loud and picks it up. Her dad says he'll make more of an effort to help his own wife with household chores to try and break the cycle. When he returns home, he picks up his dirty clothes and starts doing his own laundry to the surprise of his wife.

Of course, a bottle of Ariel detergent sits atop the laundry machine, as it is an ad, but the subtle product placement doesn't distract from the important questions the company is posing: Why is it assumed that women will do the laundry and care for the home? Can't we share the load?

The ad captured the attention of Facebook Chief Operating Officer and Lean In author Sheryl Sandberg, who shared it on her own Facebook page with applause. She wrote her own powerful thoughts on the video, too: "This is one of the most powerful videos I have ever seen – showing how stereotypes hurt all of us and are passed from generation to generation. When little girls and boys play house they model their parents' behavior; this doesn’t just impact their childhood games, it shapes their long-term dreams."